Halloween 2011

All right, folks, take a good look at it, because this is as close as it gets to a spectacular kid-in-costume picture this year. Back for an encore this year we have Jared as Batman. He's been Batman for three of his four Halloweens, and that's how he likes it:

It's not that we didn't celebrate Halloween. Why, we had our pumpkin out at the start of October, and we even got it a little buddy later in the month! However, this picture was taken November 1st. It was just one of those years.

 Our neighbors made up for it, though:

Lest you be concerned that the Muffins were deprived of Halloween, rest assured that they did make it out to enjoy the season. Mom even dressed up for the occasion a little.

First stop, the grand Halloween party the Thursday before Halloween. It was like a church party, but on a much larger scale, with lots and lots of yummy soups and goodies and lots of games for the kids. Here are Amanda and Jared getting ready for a sack race.

There was also a ring toss game. Curtis watched Amanda and Jared do it . . .

. . . and then he went and showed them how it's REALLY done. Note that Curtis was a nonconformist this Halloween: he absolutely refused to wear a costume of any kind for any of the events we attended.

The boys' favorite game was the one with all the rubber duckies. Can you blame them?

The next night was our actual church party. Not quite as big as the night before, but still lots of good food, fun costumes, and, most importantly, trunk-or-treating. Here are Amanda and Jared enjoying some spoils.

We took the weekend off to rest up for Halloween proper. Good thing we did, too, because even so both girls needed to go to the doctor that day. Nothing serious, just enough to get Amanda excused from school and warrant a trip to the pharmacy. It was our first time going to our new doctor here, and Mom was glad that the Muffins couldn't see over the counter to notice all the costumes the employees were wearing. Nothing wrong with the costumes, mind you, but it would have been sad trying to explain to them later why Jessie the Cowgirl, the clown, the cave girl, etc. weren't there every time we went back. :) The best part about the pharmacy trip was that it presented another opportunity for trick-or-treating, right in the grocery store while we waited for the medicine. (How convenient is that?) Here's Lydia dressed up in the family dragon/dinosaur suit for the occasion (yes, it's hard to be a girl after two brothers in a slow Halloween year).

And here's Lydia again at the store with the other Muffins, pleased at the treats that kept coming our way.

There's been a lot of talk about it being a slow year for Halloween, but in all fairness, it should be noted that Jared had a pretty busy season. Remember the Batman costume? Too old now. Time to move on to another super hero for the store trick-or-treat:

And yet another for actual official night time trick-or-treating. Dad fashioned the mask, and Jared decorated the cupcake at a party we visited during trick-or-treat time.

Amanda got a late start trick-or-treating for academic reasons. Fortunately, the party Mom and Jared visited was still going strong, and so Amanda went to town decorating goodies:

Mom got into the fun, too, with this "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" inspired cupcake, featuring chocolate cake and chocolate frosting topped with chocolate licorice:

Still, throughout all the festivities, Mom was haunted by the cute, coordinated, gender-appropriate, not leftover or last minute costumes on so many other peoples' children. The solution: a day-after-Halloween shopping trip (quite successful, too). So, stay tuned for Halloween 2012, featuring cooler costumes and hopefully some great pictures of said costumes.